Review Summary: This is the album that DIR EN GREY reached a standard of music, that was beyond the standards of "Visual-Kei" or, "Glam-Rock". And despite being so early in their career, it is oddly superior to Gauze, they elavated not just in sound but in character, co
A band of many faces, DIR EN GREY's roots originated from Glam-Rock to Visual-Kei. By the 90's it had engulfed in it's wake, bands such as "X", "Malice Mizer" and "BuckTick", spawning an androgynous league of fans, entised by the flamboyant appearance, and whimsical metal/rock.
DIR EN GREY release their debut album "Gauze" in 1999, shortly after the disbanding of Visual-Kei sensations "X", and tragic death of their guitarist in the midst of his solo career, Hideto Matsumoto, commonly referred to, as "Hide."
X Drummer and co-founder Yoshiki Hayashi, forseen potential in DIR EN GREY, taking role of Producer for 5-tracks in the album "Gauze", all of which previously released as singles. Sparking instrest in the infact DIR EN GREY, as his own band X, was no more.
"Gauze" rocketed DIR EN GREY into instant success, earning them a legion of fans.
After touring with material featured on "Gauze", DIR EN GREY would release a new single derived from their second album "Macabre", called "Myaku." onFebruary 16th 2000. Retaining the same whimsical, shock-value held dear in their debut album, and leading the way to their second album release, "Macabre", released on September 20th 2000.
WIth album art work taking inspiration from Russian architect and even featuring Cyrillic(an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD). The album begins with "Deity"or "Children" in Russian), peculiar distorted chanting, setsthe base for ethnic instruments, adding an undefinable melody, cascading amongst it all, and repeats for over a minute, until a final muffled chant gives birth to a typical DIR-eque opening. A catchy guitar riff, accompinied by bass and pounding drums, and Kyo's unique vocals rising from the chaos, drawing a direct homage to Johannes Brahms "Hungarian Dance No. 5.", an appropriate opener for the album, which overall is far more cultural then Gauze's "Mode Of Adam", a typically trance influenced song.
However the opening track could not possibly define the upcoming track-list, as it spans and branches off into so many genre's, even more expansive then Gauze..
For example, you have your tranquil tracks such as "蛍火(hotarubi)", opening with a beautiful piano-like synth, leading way for a melodic violin. Then you have your tracks such as "egnirys cimredopyh", "Berry" and "Hydra", as over-the-top and as whimsical as it gets, but satisfying none-of-the-less in a typical DIR-eque fashion. And then you have your extremely emotinal tracks, such as "Zakuro", a heart-wrenching ballad, in which translated lyrics are not essential to identify the songs emotion and meaning. Or "太陽の碧 (taiyou no ao)" another emotinal song, introducing a more relaxing approach, very much has the ambience of summer amongst all the chorused guitars and subtle percussion. The track list is extremely diverse both musically and characteriscally, the only thing that is maintained is the grim over-tone on every track, wether it's a tranquil haven, an all-out whimsical, or even an emotional ballad; the same DIR-like scent is sustained through-out, a scent of chaos, anger, and misery. Which would later in their career become amplified.
The title track "MACABRE —揚羽ノ羽三ノ夢ハ二蛹一" is simply superb, a ten-minute collage of prominant toms, extremely ambient chorus guitars, warbling bass, and animalistic vocals. It's not a ten-minute repeat of the simple basis of "Intro >> Verse >> Bridge >> Chrorus >> Verse >> Outro", there are many alternations on each section of the song, branching out into solo's, from Bassist Toshiya and Guitarist Kaoru. Which simply sparks intrest and hooks the listener. It encapsules various themes of nature, murder, birth, and the daily basis of insect's, it expresses each of these themes at some point in the song not only through cryptic lyric ("Show me tainted wings, I feel them rising, from my stomach"), but also through the instrumental. The track is executed with perfection both live and in the recording, it shares a balance of themes and alternatives, the vague lyrics amidst the haunting instrumental, results in a track that can only be described as "perfect". It is most definantely, one of DIR EN GREY's best songs.
This is the album that DIR EN GREY reached a standard of music, that was beyond the standards of "Visual-Kei" or, "Glam-Rock". And despite being so early in their career, it is oddly superior to Gauze, they elavated not just in sound but in character, concept, and visuals, becoming there own.
